Today's Liberal News

Stop Firing the Innocent

As companies and organizations of all sorts have scrambled to institute a zero-tolerance policy on racism over the past few weeks, some of them have turned out to be more interested in signaling their good intentions than punishing actual culprits. This emphasis on appearing rather than being virtuous has already resulted in the mistreatment of innocent people—not all of them public figures or well-connected individuals with wealth to cushion their fall.

How Far Bill Barr Has Fallen

Many observers breathed a sigh of relief when Bill Barr was confirmed as attorney general. Here was a respected professional who had served in the post once before in an honorable administration. Now, just a year and a half later, what a disappointment he has proved. The man cannot be trusted.Think of the intentionally misleading account he gave of the Mueller report, at a time when the public and Congress had only Barr’s word to go by.

Will Ferrell’s Best Comedy in Years Is Here

Sincerity is the key to every great Will Ferrell comedy. His classics, such as Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, are surreal satires of American arrogance. But they work because the title characters are earnest creations—buffoons invested with the genuine belief that what they’re doing is special.

The Looming Threat to Voting in Person

The daunting logistics of holding an election during a pandemic were on display in Kentucky on Tuesday, as voters in the state’s primary made their way to just 170 polling places—down from 3,700 before the coronavirus arrived. Considering the logistical challenges of social distancing, record absentee-ballot requests, and uncertainties about whether officials could recruit sufficient poll workers, observers on the ground judged the election to be surprisingly well run.

Repair & Revive: Rev. William Barber on Fighting Racism, Poverty, Climate Change, War & Nationalism

The Poor People’s Campaign offered a counterpoint to President Trump’s sparsely attended Tulsa campaign rally with a mass digital gathering that unveiled a policy platform to spur “transformative action” on five key issues of systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and the threat of religious nationalism. “We have to repair and revive,” says Rev. Dr. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign.

As Americans rise up in defense of Black lives, Black protest anthems resonate more than ever

Protest songs have seen a major spike in streaming numbers in recent weeks, and the timing of the upsurge is no coincidence: Black Lives Matter uprisings around the country have brought renewed attention to the history and power of Black-led civil unrest in the U.S., of which music has long been an integral part. According to Billboard, protest songs from artists like Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, Beyoncé, James Brown, and others have been streamed at high numbers.

A win for the Trump administration: SCOTUS upholds fast-track deportations of denied asylum seekers

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that previously denied asylum seekers cannot challenge their fast-tracked deportation cases in federal courts in a 7-2 decision Thursday. The court found that expedited deportations for migrants at or near the border who fail initial asylum screenings does not violate due process rights or constitutional protections against unlawful detention, the Associated Press reported.

Union representing meatpacking workers pushes for more frequent COVID-19 testing

News broke last week that meatpacking companies exported a record amount of pork to China after using warnings of shortages to get Donald Trump to order them to stay open despite massive coronavirus outbreaks in their plants. Sens. Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren are not letting that issue go, sending a letter to the CEOs of top meatpacking companies.

Warren and Booker have questions for those CEOs about exports and price increases.

Appeals court deals blow to Trump on border wall, ruling his money grab illegal

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the Trump administration does not have the authority to seize $2.5 billion from the Pentagon in order to fund the building of Trump’s border wall.

In a victory for environmental groups, the 2-1 ruling also upheld a federal district court order blocking illegal construction of the wall. Last summer, the Supreme Court had allowed construction of the wall to temporarily move forward while litigation in Sierra Club v.

Guards pepper-sprayed and restrained asylum-seekers by the neck for protesting their detention

Detained people at a privately operated Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility say guards pepper-sprayed them and placed their knees on their necks after engaging in an act of civil disobedience in protest of their ongoing detention during the novel coronavirus pandemic, Mother Jones reports. The facility, LaSalle Corrections Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana, has had 65 confirmed COVID-19 cases and two guards have died after becoming sick.

Listen: People Are Panic-Moving

In the past few months, after the pandemic hit, many people have chosen to leave big cities—at least for now. Amanda Mull joins executive producer Katherine Wells and staff writer James Hamblin to talk about whether their departures will be permanent.Listen to the episode here:Subscribe to Social Distance on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or another podcast platform to receive new episodes as soon as they’re published.